Sugith Varughese

Sugith Varughese (born 1958) is an Indian-born Canadian writer, director and actor.

Background

Born in Cochin, Kerala, India into a Syrian Christian family ("Varughese," also sometimes spelled "Varghese" and "Verghese" and variously pronounced, is Malayalam for "George"),^[1] he immigrated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as a child when his neurosurgeon father obtained a professional appointment there.^[2] His family's native language is Malayalam; having grown up in anglophone western Canada he naturally speaks English with a Canadian accent but from time to time affects an assortment of South Asian accents when playing dramatic roles that call for them.

Sugith Varughese was raised in Saskatoon, began university studies at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon with a double major in pre-medicine and drama,^[3] and continued on to an undergraduate degree in drama at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and a Master of Fine Arts at York University in Toronto.^[4] He went on to write, act in and direct film and television productions in Canada and the USA. As a director, he has been nominated for and won several Canadian film and television and international film festival awards.^[5] He holds a black belt in karate.^[6]

Credits

His credits include the following.

Film and Television

• As a film and television actor, Varughese has more than 80 credits including “Orphan” and “Mission to Mars.”  Other television credits include “Suits”, “The Strain” and “Degrassi: The Next Generation”.  He was a series regular in the comedy CBC-TV’s  “An American in Canada” aka “Frostbite” in Australia (Gemini nomination for Best Ensemble Performance) and played recurring characters in Omni TV’s nighttime soap “Metropia”, CBC-TV’s “Little Mosque on the Prairie”, season one of “The Girlfriend Experience” on Starz and “Kim's Convenience” on CBC-TV. He starred in “Home on the Range” for CBC-TV which won a gold prize for best TV pilot at the Houston Film Festival. He received an ACTRA Award nomination for his very first television role in the TV movie “Best of Both Worlds” for CBC-TV.

Other credits include Veritas: The Quest; F/X: The Series; Kung Fu: The Legend Continues; Overdrawn at the Memory Bank.^[5]

Stage

As a stage actor:

• "Little Pretty and the Exceptional" (Factory Theatre) [Dora award nomination for Outstanding Performance-male],
• "The Postman" (Panamania) [also co-writer],
• "The Container" (Summerworks),
• "The Post Office" (Pleiades Theatre)
• "Tideline" (Factory Theatre)
• "Bhopal" (Cahoots Theatre) and
• "Indian Ink" (CanStage/National Arts Centre).^[7]

Writing

Stage

• as playwright "The Postman" (co-writer, Panamania) and "Entitlement" (Summerworks)

Film and Television

• As scriptwriter: “The Girl Who Hated Books”; “Mind Me Good Now”; “Tongue Tied”; “The Blobheads”; “Roses Sing on New Snow”; “Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance”; “Blue Murder”;“Christopher, Please Clean Up Your Room!”; “Talespinners Collection I”; “The Magic of Anansi”; “Lights for Gita”; “From Far Away”; “Groundling Marsh”; “On My Mind”; “Mela's Lunch”; “Kumar and Mr. Jones”; “Mount Royal”; “Best of Both Worlds”; “Fraggle Rock”^[5] and "Entry Denied," a CBC radio play detailing the unsuccessful attempt by 376 Punjabi immigrants aboard the Komagata Maru to land in Vancouver in 1914 and the Canadian government's turning them back to India.^[8]
• As scriptwriter: “Talespinners Collection 2” (NFB); “The Blobheads” (YTV); “Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance (IMAX documentary); “Blue Murder” (Global TV); “On My Mind” (TVOntario); “Mela’s Lunch” (NFB); “Kumar and Mr. Jones” (Canadian Film Centre;, “Mount Royal “ (CTV); “Best of Both Worlds” (CBC TV);“Fraggle Rock” (Jim Henson Company); as well as “In the Mountains”, a radio adaptation from Rohinton Mistry’s novel, “A Fine Balance”

Writing awards

Vaurghese has been nominated for a Writers Guild of Canada award five times and won a Writers Guild of Canada award for “Talespinners Collection 2” (NFB). He received a Gemini Award nomination for writing “The Secret Life of Goldfish”.  He was a finalist for an ACTRA Award for writing “Best of Both Worlds.” He won the first York Trillium Award – Most Promising Writer, Television from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Directing

• “Tongue Tied” (independent comedy short)
• “On My Mind” (half hour children’s television series for TVOntario)
• “Mela’s Lunch” (National Film Board of Canada)
• “Kumar and Mr. Jones” (Canadian Film Centre) – awarded Best Director, Atlantic Film Festival^[5]

References

External links

• Sugith Varughese on IMDb
• From Far Away, Lights for Gita and The Magic of Anansi, National Film Board of Canada website.